Google Snubs Facebook

"My data? You want my data?"

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tangor

6:51 am on Nov 6, 2010 (gmt 0)

Google has fired the latest salvo in its ongoing war with Facebook over who gets to know who your friends are, updating its terms of service so that Facebook can't access Gmail's Contacts API unless Zuckerberg and company offer a similar API. Mountain View has already started to cut Facebook's access to the Google API, according to a source familiar with the matter.

This means that if you sign up for a new Facebook account, you may not be able to directly import names and addresses from Gmail. Facebook has long prevented Google services from offering users the option of accessing contact information from Facebook "friends lists".

This is in stark contrast to the Google Contacts API, which lets any third-party service or application provide tools for importing contacts from Gmail, including email addresses. Facebook has long provided users with this sort of import-from-Gmail option. But Google is now pulling the plug on Facebook's import tool, and it won't restore access unless Facebook provides similar access to Facebook friends lists.